Should have taken the over.

This is why I am not a gambler. Although, I would still go with UNC this weekend, the second layer of paint worked out. Just like I thought it would! (Please note that if you read my previous entry, that is my attempt at humour. If, however, you did not read my previous entry, then understand that last comment to mean I am awesome.) I was very surprised that it came together as easily as it did given the amount of medium I slopped on the canvas.

Had a person in the studio for a quick drive-by-pop-in and they asked how I made the sky "vibrate". Years ago, after a discussion with my friend Ojars Biskaps (who was a huge inspiration in building my studio) about the use of dots of complimentary colours to accentuate space, I experimented with putting bits of complimentary colours in a landscape I was fussing with. The I tried it in a sky I was working on. After I applied the colour I would go back over it and slightly cover up the dots of colour so it wouldn't look like I was chickenpoxing my canvas. I didn't think much of it until I went to a retrospective show of Robert Bechtle in Washington, DC.

At times, Bechtle's entire paintings would glow. Once home I went online to find out what I could about this artist. A stumbled upon a really great video. I have since shown it to all my students who feel bad about wanting to paint realistically.

I think he is one of the most intense painters alive today. Even if you (meaning me) are not a realism style painter, or even a representational painter for that matter, I think there is a lot to be learned from him. Here's the video link if you are interested. It's about ten minutes and has great production value.

Click to view the video:

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/kqed-spark-robert-bechtle/1780993669

(PS: There are lots of other great artist video profiles to the left of the main video.)